Yasuhiro Nambu

Regional Structural Investigation on the Preservation Districts of Yuasa and Ine in Japan

The preservation district of groups of traditional buildings is an important category of cultural properties in Japan. Japan has entered an earthquake active period. However, conventional culturally and socially oriented site investigation methods hardly satisfy the requirements of risk management of district preservation. In this study, the authors introduce an investigation method from the structural and security perspectives. They explain the study procedure, methods and results. Results of the investigation of two coastal districts, namely, Ine and Yuasa, are comparatively studied, and regional disparities are highlighted. The study concludes that district vulnerability and house structural performance should be considered as important indices when making decisions regarding district preservation.

Seismic performance evaluation on historical timber frame structures with large hanging walls

a) Specimens of which walls break before breakage of columns have high deformation performance. b) Different specification of hanging walls and size of column section give different failure mechanism and bearing force of hanging walls. c) Ratio of shear force of columns given by the results of tests is different from the ratio based on the current code. d) Bearing force of hanging walls is varied by specification of frames such as section size of columns and thickness of crosspieces called Nuki. e) Rear columns are broken at the bending unit stress which is about the half of the flexural strength.